Bacteria seem to be doing a good cleanup job in gulf

Bacteria seem to be doing a good cleanup job in gulf Data collected months ago show populations of carbon-eating bacteria rising in parts of a plume of oil. Now, in the area where the bugs were collected, scientists ‘do not see detectable oil.’

As efforts continue to clean the oil that gushed from the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists has found that nature’s microbial helpers are hard at work too — and doing a better job than researchers had expected.

Data collected in May and June showed populations of carbon-eating bacteria were increasing in parts of a plume of oil drifting in deep water in the gulf, said lead author Terry Hazen, head of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s ecology department.

“Within the last few weeks we’ve gone back and can find bacteria … but do not see detectable oil,” Hazen said. The most likely reason, he added, is that the voracious bugs ate it.